Two charged in $35M Medicaid transportation fraud; sacred moments; carrots over sticks at the corner store — Morning Medical Update

Two charged in $35M Medicaid transportation fraud

Federal prosecutors say the Long Island pair billed for methadone-clinic rides that never happened and padded the miles on the ones that did.

Two Long Island men were charged in a scheme that fraudulently billed Medicaid more than $35 million for medical transportation, federal prosecutors in the Eastern District of New York said. Saad Aziz, 52, and Zabed Chowdhury, 49, who owned and operated Tri-Hamlet Taxi Inc., face charges of health care fraud, kickback and money laundering conspiracies, and paying kickbacks in an indictment filed July 1.

Prosecutors said that from January 2019 to October 2025 the pair paid kickbacks to Medicaid beneficiaries to request rides, primarily for methadone treatment, that often were never provided, then inflated the trips they did bill by routing riders to addiction treatment centers in New York City instead of closer Long Island facilities and using false pickup and drop-off addresses. More than $18 million in claims covered rides longer than 75 miles. The two allegedly spent the proceeds on investment properties and homes worth about $6 million. Each faces up to 20 years in prison and forfeiture of at least $35 million if convicted; the defendants are presumed innocent.

Sacred moments, measured

Most physicians who report a moment of deep connection with a patient say it eases burnout. Almost none tell a colleague.

So-called sacred moments, brief experiences of deep connection, awe or a sense that time stands still, may be an overlooked buffer against physician burnout, according to researchers at the Lawson Research Institute at St. Joseph's Health Care London. In an evidence-based conceptual model published in the Journal of General Internal Medicine, first author Serena Wong, a psychologist at St. Joseph's, and colleagues describe how the moments are associated with more meaning in work, better emotional health and lower burnout, and lay out what fosters them: emotional presence, supportive leadership and time to reflect.

A survey of 629 physicians cited in the work found 67.7% had experienced a sacred moment with a patient and 76% of those felt less burned out, though fewer than 5% had shared it with colleagues. Wong said the moments "serve as a reminder of the spiritual and existential dimensions of care that many clinicians value, but become quickly lost in the demands of the hospital setting." The authors caution it is no cure for burnout. St. Joseph's says it is the first Canadian hospital to join the University of Michigan's Sacred Moments Initiative, which contributed to the paper.

Carrots over sticks at the corner store

A seven-store Ohio pilot paid retailers to cut tobacco, alcohol and lottery marketing. Most took the deal.

An Ohio program is testing whether paying store owners, rather than fining them, can curb the tobacco, alcohol and lottery marketing that saturates many neighborhoods, and early results are encouraging, Ohio State University researchers reported. The program, Retailers Creating a Responsible Environment, or Retailers CARE, offers convenience stores and carryouts financial incentives to meet progressively stricter standards, from locking tobacco behind the counter to keeping naloxone kits on site. Writing in the American Journal of Public Health, lead researcher Megan Roberts said it may be the first U.S. effort to pay retailers to voluntarily scale back promotion of the products.

In a pilot that ran from fall 2023 through fall 2024, seven of 28 identified stores agreed to join; after one year, five reached the program's bronze tier, one silver and one gold, with rewards ranging from $2,700 to $7,200 that owners put toward roof repairs, lighting and redesigned counters. Roberts said independently owned stores were more willing to participate than chains, and cautioned that the pilot is small and needs long-term evaluation to show whether it improves community health. She said the tobacco industry alone spends about $6 billion a year on in-store advertising and promotions.